Legend of the Lost

by Ian P Buckingham

  She loved a mystery and what a delight that this one was, right here, right now in her favourite time and place.

  Just then Nanna Jo popped her head round the door.

  “How’s our little mermaid?” she asked, that cheeky grin all over her face. “Gave us all quite the scare, you did. Quite the scare indeed”.

  “Oh, I’m fine, Nanna,” Holly replied. “Just need to listen to Pops more and actually use the tide alarm,” she laughed.

  “Of course you’re all right. You always are. I meant our new friend. How’s she? And where did she come from? It’s not every day that time and tide bring someone so special to our shores.

  “Yet, judging by the way the Moonstone has been behaving since your Dad carried you back last night, this friend is someone special.”

  And, as if on cue, in response to the warming caresses of the morning sun as it peeped out from behind a fluffy cloud, the archway burst into a light display that would have dazzled any lighthouse keeper.

  Little did the adults suspect, but things were about to change for Holly and her loved ones.

  Yet not even such a clever girl as Holly could ever imagine how much and how fast.

  Down at The Fat Mackerel Cafe, excitement crackled and bubbled over onto the pavement, enticing passersby to step inside.

  Whacky Sally-Anne, the purple-haired owner, had “magic at her fingertips,” Pops always said. Her sausage sandwiches were the stuff of legend and the atmosphere she created with her wild paintings, crystals and chimes warmed the heart of even the most cynical blow-in or townie.

  “One more milkshake, ladies?” she enquired, waving the stainless-steel mixing jug above her head and moving her sensual hips and flowing skirts to the world music on the sound system.

  They nodded in enthusiastic chorus and then swooped back down to the object in focus: a note; a note from the enigmatic Savannah, immediately obvious from her wavy, eccentric writing.

  Dearest Holly.

  I am so grateful to you for everything you did for me when we met.

  You don’t know just how much peril I was in when you found me. I’m also so very pleased that you haven’t told the grown-ups the whole story yet as they seldom understand.

  I’m sure you have so many questions to ask.

  Can you come and meet me, at low tide, by the rocks where you found me and I’ll try to explain as best I can?

  Your very special friend

  Savannah

  “What does she mean?” cried Niamh.

  “Can we all go, Holly?” Alex blurted. “I would so love to meet her too.”

  “Please, Holly,” she implored, spilling a bit of her refilled shake in her urgency to grasp her friend’s hand and squeeze tight.

  “I don’t think it’s a good idea,” said Lucy, once again acting older than her years. “Savannah doesn’t really know any of us. There is clearly something secret going on. I don’t want to get into trouble. And, anyway, if we’re ever going to solve the mystery, it’s best that Holly goes alone.”

  She was clearly trying hard to cover up the fact that she was a little jealous about her sister’s new friend, but failing.

  So, despite the cries of the gang and leaving Jack straining at his leash in the care of the crew, Holly set off at midday.

  She was soon back at the site of the events of that dramatic Saturday.

  Just for fun, she had brought the scarlet robe with her, hidden in a carrier bag. She pulled it about her as she sat down on the flattest rock to wait, being sure to tuck the bag away in her pocket.

  She wasn’t there for long before the figure of her friend appeared from the seaward side of the beach, looking radiant in a long ocean blue dress and golden hair band. She smiled as she saw Holly, who stood up to greet her.

  “Don’t you find that this is always a little bit of a blowy spot?” Holly said, forgetting for a moment that Savannah had no spoken words.

  Savannah smiled, looked deep into Holly’s eyes and then took her hand and led her towards the cliff-face.

  It looked as though they were headed for a dead end, but it must have been an optical illusion caused by the way the boulders were lying. Soon, much to Holly’s surprise, they were at a part of the beach that she hadn’t noticed was accessible before.

  Here, their footprints seemed to be the very first, not just for this tide but ever.

  After a short walk, they approached what looked like a solid rock wall, covered in ivy and seagrass.

  Savannah reached forward and drew the grassy and leafy covering aside like living curtains. She then gestured for Holly to follow her inside.

  What greeted them as they stepped, blinking, into a cool, cavernous, salty-smelling space simply took Holly’s breath away.

  The echoing cave was more fresh than cold and the silvery walls sparkled with a light from a source that wasn’t obvious to the naked eye.

  It was much bigger than Holly was expecting and could have been disconcerting had it not been for her companion’s reassuring presence.

  But the biggest surprise of all she saved until last when she turned to Holly and spoke – yes, spoke – with a voice as soft as a summer breeze.

  “Welcome to my home, sister. I’ve been searching for you all of my life.”

  It was Holly’s turn to be dumbstruck as her slight companion gently led her to a large rock wall, down which a constant flow of water cascaded.

  With a wave of her hand the water parted to reveal a series of pretty drawings, etched into the stone. And there, right in the middle, was a dark-haired figure in a scarlet cape standing by a pool of water in which a mermaid swam.

  When Holly turned to see Savannah’s reaction to her own, her friend had gone and was now swimming around the crystal water towards the back of the cave, water that gave off a very gentle light blue light.

  “I’m sure this is all a great shock to you, Holly. But I hope you understand that I had to bring you here. It is only here that I can be my true self and only here that I can give voice to the answers I know you will want to hear.”

  At this she glided effortlessly onto a smooth rock platform with one light flick of her beautiful jade-coloured tail. An actual, real, shiny tail.

  “Are you ready, my sister, my friend?”

  Holly’s own legs threatened to give way beneath her and she thought she was feinting again for a brief second.

  This place seemed to buzz with a sort of friendly power that filled every part of her. So she sat down upon the soft sand and nodded eagerly to her friend, both excited and nervous about what the next few minutes would bring.

  “I call this the Legend of the Lost,” she said, gesturing towards the captivating picture sequence. “I am sorry that I do not know the whole story but I have spent as long as I can remember swimming the wide oceans tracking down what I can about the family I have been cruelly separated from for many years.

  “This has been my home for some time now and I have gathered what I know about our people here. It is our record, our legend, our legacy. Our story, if you will.”

  She pointed to the waterfall wall as she talked.

  “I have had to piece together the flotsam and jetsam from tales from various sources, from the legends and myths of fisherfolk to the stories the sea creatures sometimes share.”

  Holly, bursting with excitement, just smiled encouragingly, not wanting to interrupt her flow.

  “It seems that some years ago, when you and I were little more than toddling babes, we may have been on a ship sailing from our home land with our family.

  “It was a trip our parents were reluctant to take, but they were forced onto the sea by people who clearly meant us harm.

  “Something perilous happened during that infamous journey that made the seabed bubble and bleed with fire and the oceans rise up like tall mountains.

&nbs
p; “Many sea creatures were taken ill and died and many people were swept away by the sea’s fury that winter.

  “As the legend has it, the oceans were hell-bent on revenge against people who had forgotten to treat all life with respect and were abusing it by pillaging the oceans and ruining the land.

  “Some sort of ancient sea crone stirred up the villagers where we lived and somehow our family was blamed for the anger of the oceans.

  “We tried to flee but instead, as a sacrifice, an offering to calm the anger of the seas, we were captured and placed aboard a leaking ship called the Romany Soul then cruelly cast adrift.

  “I don’t know what happened aboard that ship on our fated journey, but, from what I’ve learned so far, you and I may be the only survivors of that magical storm.”

  “But how can that be?” said Holly, clearly stunned by what she had just heard and full of questions. “The sea does get rough here but nothing like that,” she cried.

  “We don’t live here all the time but, when we do, the local people are always fine with us. There hasn’t been a big storm like that here. I have my family and you… you’re…”

  “A mermaid?” Savannah replied, smiling knowingly, as if she had expected a reaction like this from the confused girl. “Well, I usually lose my mermaid powers if I don’t bathe in this pool for long enough or if I try to leave the cave or ocean when the moon is not exactly right.

  “That’s how you found me.

  “I was drawn from the pool by the pull of the Moonstone, which had been lost but which you found.

  “You’ve seen how it shines when on dry land. I went searching and didn’t get back in time. It nearly killed me.”

  Holly nodded, frowning slightly. “I understand what you’re saying. But surely, if there’s any truth in what you’ve just told me, that would mean that I… I mean that I have…”

  “Mermaid powers too?” asked Savannah, expecting that question.

  But, before she could finish the sentence, Holly had taken off the cape and dived, head first, fully clothed, into the radiant blue water.

  Savannah waited patiently for Holly to surface, which took a little less time than she anticipated.

  The cold water had clearly come as quite a shock to her system and, despite being a strong swimmer anyway, Holly was gasping and spluttering when she bobbed back up.

  “Ooohhhh, I don’t know how you do it,” Holly shouted through chattering teeth. “It’s f–f–f–freezing.”

  She quickly gripped an overhanging stalactite, although with some difficulty, and scrambled out of the water with considerably less finesse than her companion had done.

  Savannah raised an eyebrow and nodded down to Holly’s lower body. There two very leg-like legs still stood proud but covered in goosebumps now and certainly not beautiful, iridescent shiny scales.

  Holly wrapped the cloak round her with shivering hands and instantly felt better, like during a warm hug from a loving friend.

  “Well, I guess that settles one of the questions we both had,” said Holly, finding it hard to disguise the disappointment tinged with relief in her voice.

  “But I was so sure,” Savannah replied. “Everything about you is so right. You have the stone, the cloak; we even look and think alike. And when you were sleeping, I could feel your unsettled dreams as I have those dreams too.”

  “There are a lot of things that are hard to explain, lots of similarities,” Holly replied.

  “But lots of things that don’t, too. What about the colour of our hair? I’m dark yet you’re blonde? What about our eyes? Mine are blue and yours green. I already have a family. Then there’s the fact that I found those objects on this beach, not to mention a certain deficiency in the tail department.”

  At that they both laughed out loud.

  “I actually can’t believe this is happening,” said Holly, wrapping the robe more tightly around her again to warm up.

  She was surprised to notice that her teeth chattering stopped as suddenly as it started once its warmth caressed her shoulders.

  “Tell me more of what you’ve found out so far and this time I promise to stay on dry land.”

  “Well, I’ve been here as long as I can remember,” Savannah replied, in a wistful tone.

  “In that time I’ve saved dozens of people lost at sea, without them realising.

  “A couple of years ago I rescued a sailor from a shipwreck off Lizard Point, a few miles from here, where he had been fishing.

  “He was very old and a bit delirious, mumbling about witches and sea cats and serpents and such.

  “But while he was recovering he told me how he knew someone who knew someone who knew the legend of our fated boat ride in the storm, way back when. He even sang part of an ancient mariner’s sea shanty, apparently written about us.

  “He was the one who described the scene you see before you on the wall. He was adamant that, as the old story goes, at least some of us survived the waves.

  “Based on what he told me and other clues I’ve gathered, I am certain that our parents and the rest of our family are still very much alive.”

  “Alive and living here in England?” asked Holly.

  “Well, yes, I think so. But what happened to us wiped my memory like the tide picks the sand clean every night.

  “Whenever I change from one form to another, it seems to set my memory back a bit too, at least for a while.

  “Recollections only really come to me like driftwood drawn by the ebbing and flowing of the tides and current.

  “But every time a new piece falls into place I update it in here, on this wall, as you see.”

  Holly examined the drawings a little more closely and, as expected, she could see two adults, representing Savannah’s parents, and four children, two blonde, one dark-haired and one with red hair, all holding hands.

  Some sort of black bird was depicted in a tree above them, wild animals cavorted in fields and in the distance dark, smoky clouds and large waves loomed.

  The strange scene made her feel sad for a moment.

  “How would I feel if I didn’t have my own little family?” she thought to herself. “What would I do if I were all alone, stuck between two worlds, like my new-found friend?”

  It was these overwhelming emotions that made Holly commit to the second large leap of the day as she turned to Savannah and said, “My head is spinning with all of this and I don’t know what to think about what you’ve just said. But I promise you that I will do everything I can to help you with your quest. I really can’t imagine what it would be like to lose my family as you have. I can’t just turn away.

  “I know you can’t be far from this special place for too long.

  “But please come and join us at the cottage for a while. I know Dad and NJ will be delighted to see you again. Lucy is desperate to know you and our friends can’t stop talking about you.

  “That way you and I could at least do some planning about how to get to the bottom of your story.”

  Savannah smiled indulgently as if she was expecting Holly’s response and after considering the implications of Holly’s request replied.

  “I can stay on dry land a lot longer, it seems, when the conditions are right and when the full moon meets the Moonstone.

  “The Moonstone clearly bestows greater powers on me than I have here, judging by our last adventure.

  “I also seem to get power from being near you, Holly.” She smiled as she spoke.

  “Oh, that’s great news. I have a very good feeling about this,” Holly replied, excited. “I really don’t know why but there has to be a reason I found this strange robe and the Moonstone.”

  “Let’s go and work it out together if we can”

  Then, with those optimistic words, the two girls readied themselves and arm in arm stepped back into the sunlight together
, chatting excitedly about the adventures to come.

  But as they walked back down the beach, heading to the harbour and home, neither of them noticed that someone or something, lurking in the long grass at the edge of the shoreline, had spotted them.

  It tracked their progress around the point until they started to cross an area hidden from sight on the landward side.

  Then, with a blood curdling scream, the first of the wild beasts broke cover, panting, slavering, eyes wild and howling like something terrible, in pain.

  What happened next unfolded in what seemed like several minutes chastised by a horrified heartbeat but played back in freeze frame.

  First, two sinewy animals, wolfish but running upright on horribly muscled legs, slammed into the back of the girls, forcing them apart.

  When Holly landed she remembered seeing her companion rolling down the grassy bank holding fast to the manes of the beasts, riding one while clutching at the other.

  But she then saw two more divert from the cliff edge from which the others had fallen.

  Without having time to scream or even think, she was back up on her feet and sprinting, running for what now appeared to be her very life.

  Holly gasped.

  The sweat was flowing, running into her eyes, burning as she ran.

  Lungs screamed, heavy, horribly dry.

  She gulped down hot air, chest heaving with terror.

  She could hear herself crying in panic – “faster, run faster” – and she could feel the fine hairs, taut all over her body, prickling with fear.

  She clawed through the mud and threw herself between the dark roots of an ancient tree.

  Yet still the thud, thud, thud of the footsteps came.

  They were relentless, like a pack of rabid horrors on the hunt.

  And they were chasing her through the dark woods that everyone had told her to avoid at all costs.

  But now it was too late.

  She was on her own.

  They were coming for her.